Queries to the Data Archive
The queries to the digitised records are organised into three main types.
A catalogue query allows the user to survey all of the known types of documents produced by the polar census expeditions in Central and Western Siberian and the Russian North. This catalogue, with records on over 5800 households, contains cross references to the houshold card, but also the various other types of documents gathered such as community diaries, geneological cards, and many others. Many, but not all, of these documents have been photographed. Only a portion of the household cards have been digitised. The catalogue allows the user to get an overview of what materials are available in digital format and also allows the user to print out a list of archival classmarks should he or she wish to consult the original paper documents when visiting a Russian archive. The catalogue allows the user to organise the material by settlement or region; by the surname of the enumerator who surveyed the site; by date; and by nationality. Catalogue data on the names of household heads has been disabled on this public website. The catalogue also has some pre-programmed groupings of material which pre-organise the material by the regions that have the most complete collections of data.
Household queries (currently offline) allows the user to either compile raw data tables or produce aggregate statistics of data at the level of the household for several regions that have been the focus of our research. At present over 4200 household cards have been entered (with more records to be added in 2006-2007). On this public website, only certain tables from the household cards have been coded and cleaned for presentation. These give data on subsistence activity in fishing, fur hunting, and reindeer husbandry. There is also an important summary table comparing births and deaths of people in the household for 1925-26 and 1926-27.A cleaned and coded table on purchases and prices of trade goods is in preparation. The database also gives very complex inventories of hunting and fishing equipment, outbuildings and other goods, as well as data on hired labour which is available upon request. The public website is also designed to produce simple descriptive charts comparing two variables.
Individual level data is available from one complex table on the first page of the household card. Basic demographic information such as age, marital status, and the relation to the household head was recorded for every individual in the household. Additional data was also provided on the various occupations a person might have over the course of a year. There is also additional data on nationality which often gives a more complex picture than that of the nationality recorded for the household as a whole. All of these five variable have been coded on this public website. This table also gives additional information on disabilities, Russian language ability, and specific information on the place of employment. These more detailed records are often very fragmentary and have not been provided.
